High school students will soon be able to take university courses for credit, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Thursday.

Speaking to the Council of Higher Education at a conference on the new initiative, Sa'ar said a pilot program would begin next year among about 1,000 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders. The students would take online classes with Open University instructors, allowing them to earn credits toward an undergraduate degree.

Grades in a still-undetermined number of courses in certain subjects will be considered an alternative to a matriculation exam in that subject.

Each course will cost students NIS 1,550 instead of the usual NIS 2,100 the Open University charges per course, but the Education Ministry pledged that scholarships would be available based on economic need and merit. The ministry has earmarked NIS 1.5 million next year for the scholarships, criteria for which have yet to be finalized.

Professor of education Yossi Yonah of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, who is among the experts advising the social protest movement, said the program is another sign of privatization of the education system. The Education Ministry, Yonah said, "always speaks in two languages - it declares equality but acts with a lack of equality.

"In this case the ministry itself is delivering a mortal blow against equal opportunity in education. This is anther step in the transfer of responsibility for education to the parents," Yonah said.

With regard to the scholarships the Education Ministry said would be available, Yonah called the statement "consistent but not persuasive," and indicated that that the ministry was wrong to think that offering scholarships solved all the problems of offering privatized programs. Such scholarships were, "a fig leaf to cover up the damage to equality of opportunity," Yonah said.

Yonah said if officials wanted to overhaul the education system dramatic steps were needed, but of a type that would benefit all students.

However, Sa'ar says the program will strengthen public education by "opening the gates of academia to talented high school students, mainly from outlying geographic areas, and will help them achieve their potential while still in high school."

Students who obtain a grade in Open University courses in civics will be considered to have completed level-two matriculation in that subject. Students who obtain grades in courses in the Arab world and Islam, literature, computer science, psychology, political science, sociology, economics and geography will be considered to have passed their matriculation in these subjects at level 5, the highest level.

In mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, communications, theater, film and art, the matriculation grade will include the Open University course grade.

The Education Ministry says it intends to expand the program in the coming years to eventually include all matriculation subjects.

Under the plan, if a minimum of 15 students signs up for a course, an Open University instructor will be made available at the school, along with online guidance. Students who want to join the academic track will have to take preliminary courses in academic reading and writing. Participating high schools will appoint a coordinator to mediate between the university and the students.

The Education Ministry already operates a program of university courses in high schools, but only for gifted students and so far, students have not been allowed to use their university grade as a matriculation grade.
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Michael Birnberg, President of the Millburn Board of Education, announced May 3, that after a lengthy meeting among the Board's Negotiations Committee, the Millburn Education Association and a fact-finding mediator on Tuesday, May 1, a Memorandum of Agreement has been signed by both parties, a positive step toward bringing an end to the 16-month contract negotiations between the Board and the union.

Lois Infanger, President of the MEA, confirms, “There was an Memorandum of Agreement signed late Tuesday night. Details of the MOA must be shared with the MEA membership, which includes teachers, secretaries and paraprofessionals, and ratification must occur. Actions have been suspended."

Mark Zucker, Chair of the Board’s Negotiations Committee, said, “On behalf of the Board, the negotiations team believes that this agreement represents a fair and equitable resolution and hopes that the teachers will see likewise. We all recognize that the past few months have been more than stressful for the teachers, the Board, and (most importantly) for the students.”

James Crisfield, Superintendent of Schools, adds that the willingness to compromise made all the difference: "Collective bargaining is complicated, frustrating and time consuming. This agreement, though still just tentative, is a tremendously positive development for our schools and I offer a huge 'THANK YOU' to all those on both sides who spent so much time and energy to find a way to compromise and to get it right. I can't wait to start moving forward from this and once again start accentuating all the positives we have going in the Millburn Schools."

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